Botaet valve



H. T. RATCLIFFE.

ROTARY VALVE.

APPLICATION men uw. l0. 19154.

1 ,1 96,149. Patented Aug. 29, 1916.

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H. T. RATCLIFFE.

ROTARY VALVE.

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1 1 96, 1 49. Patented Aug. 29, 1916.

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HENRY T. RATCLIFFE, 0F HUTCHINSON, KANSAS.

ROTARY VALVE.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 29, 1916.

Application led January 10, 1916. Seriai No. 71,314.

To all 'whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY T. RAToLIrFE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Hutchinson, in the county of Reno and State of Kansas, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary Valves, of whichthe following is a specification, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings.

This invention relates to valves, and particularly to turbinate valves,that is, valves which have a rotary motion akin to the motion of a top.y

The general object of the invention is to provide a very simple andeffective form of valve which is peculiarly applicable for use withinternal combustion engines to control the opening and closing of theinlet and exhaust to the cylinders of these engines.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a valve of thischaracter so constructed and arranged that it will permit the inlet portof the engine to be opened its entire extent during the entire inletstroke and which will permit the exhaust port of the engine to be openedits entire extent during the exhaust stroke of the engine.

A further object of the invention is to provide a valve which will openand close the exhaust and inlet ports very quickly thereby giving aquicker action to the motor.

A further object of my invention is to very greatly reduce the number ofparts necessary to control the inlet and 'exhaust ports and whichrequires no grinding and practically no repair.

A further object of my invention is to provide a valve which will givethe exhaust and intake a free and unobstructed passage, allowing the gasto enter freely to the cylinder while the inlet port is open andpermitting the exhaust gases to pass out quickly, resulting in greaterpower with the same diameter of cylinder' and length of stroke and aconsiderable fuel economy.

A further object is to provide one valve which will control both theexhaust and the inlet ports of a cylinder.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accom- Ypanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 1s a fragmentary diametrical section of the c vlinder of aninternal combustion engine wlth my inventlon applled thereto; Fig. 2 isan inner face view of the sec- Ation 11 of the valve casing showing yaportion of the valve; Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;Figs. 4 to 9 are diagrammatic face views of the valve showing itsposition with relation to the exhaust and inlet orts of the engine atdifferent periods. y improved valve is intended to be applied inconjunction with each cylinder of an internal combustion engine. In Fig.1 I

have illustrated a fragmentary view of one cylinder of an internalcombustion engine, designated A, this cylinder having the u sual pistonconnected to the crank shaft (not shown). two parts or sections 10 and11. The part 10 I have illustrated as formed integral with the cylinderA, but this is purely illustrative as the part 10 might be separate anddistinct from the cylinder. The two sections 10 and 11 are formed toconfront each other and each section is recessed on its inner face so ast0 form a valve chamber 12 which is relatively shallow. The sections 10and 11 may be held in engagement with each other in any suitable manner,as by means of screws 13; and the confronting edges or margins of thetwo sections may be packed as by means of a packing 14. Preferably thesesections 10 and 11 are circular in form and the section 11 is formedwith a central aperture 15 provided with a suitable bearing 16 which ispreferably a ball bearing. The section 10 and the section 11 are eachformed with inlet ports 17 and exhaust ports 18. The inlet port 17 onthe section 11 is adapted to be operatively connected to any suitablemanifold leading from the carbureter while the exhaust port 18 of thesection 11 is adapted to beconnected to an exhaust pipe and muffler.

Disposed in the valve chamber 12 is a circular rotatable valve disk 21,which, adjacent its margin and for a portion of its circumference, isprovided with an elongated port 22. The ends of the port 22 arereentrant so as to form semi-circular portions 23 which project beyondthe side edges of the port. The' length of the port 22 is preferablyequal to the distance between the ports 17 and 18. These ports 17 and 18have an angular"distance between them of about 90 degrees andthe lengthof the port 22 corresponds to this. IVhen the disk 21 is in the positionshown in Fig. 4 it will be My improved valve consists of' i exactlybetween the exhaust port and the inlet port, and both of these portswill be closed.

The disk 21 is mounted upon a shaft 24 which extends out through theaperture 15 and is supported by means of ball bearings or other suitablejournal bearings 16 and the extremity of the shaft 24 is operativelyconnected to the engine in such manner that the shaft will be revolvedin time with the movement of the corres onding piston. I haveillustrated the sha t 24 as being provided at its extremity with thesprocket wheel 25 in turn engaged by a sprocket chain 26 and driven fromany suitable rotative part, as for instance, the crank shaft. This ispurely illustrative as any means may be used for driving the severalshafts 21 of the several valves, and this means will vary with the viewsof different manufacturers and with the construction of differentmotors.

In order to reduce as much as possible the friction between the valvedisk 21 and the casing formed by the sections 10 and 11 and at the sametime prevent leakage of gas around the ports 18 and of the exhaustaround the port 17, I preferably form the inner faces of the sections 10and 11 with the grooves 28 within which packing rings 29 are disposed.These packing rings project above the inner faces of the sections 10 and11 about .002 of an inch so that the valve disk will not touch either ofthe sections 10 or 11 but will only touch the packing rings. Thus theonly friction will be that of the disk against the faces of the packing`rings. A thin film of oil will be used to iill the spaces between theinner faces of the members 10 and 11 and the disk 21 so as to make thejoint perfectly tight and cause the valve disk to run easily withoutfriction, but it is preferable to use no oil within the interior of thechamber 12 and only applyoil when needed to the bearings for the shaft24. The valve may be lubricated through the packing rings and thesections 10 and 11 maybe formed by castings having water jackets so asto keep the valve cool.

The operation of my invention is illustrated in Figs. 4 to 9. In Fig. 4the valve is shown atthe moment when the exhaust port has closed andjust before the inlet port is opened. This is at the beginning of thesuction stroke. When the piston has completed one-half of its suctionstroke the valve has rotated to the position shown in Fig. 5 and whenthe suction stroke is completed the piston starts on its compressionstroke and the valve is rotated to such a position that the port 22 hasentirely passed the inlet port 17. While the Valve is in the positionshown in Fig. 7 the compression stroke is completed and the chargeignited,

and at the completion of the Working stroke the valve has shifted to theposition shown in Fig. 8 where the exhaust port is just about to beopened. When the exhaust stroke is one-half completed the valve hasshifted to the position shown in Fig. 9.

It will be seen that this valve is composed of only one moving part andthat with this valve a rotor will be very much simplified as the use ofthe valve will do away with the two valves now in use to` control theinlet and the exhaust, the Valve springs therefor, washers, ootter ins,bushings, and valve rods. In fact 1t will do away with twelve parts foreach cylinder of the engine, thus doing away with fortyeight parts on afour-cylinder motor, seventy-two parts on a six-cylinder motor, andninety-six parts on an eight-cylinder motor. Furthermore, it is obviousthat this valve will do away with the cam shaft ordinarily used foroperating the intake and exhaust valves. One of the advantages of thisvalve is that it requires no grinding as it does not hammer againstmetal constantly, and a further advantage resides in the fact that onaccount of its opening and closing very Quickly the motor will operatewith more snap. With the valve now in use the piston in each cylinderhas to move one-half of the piston stroke before the suction valve isWide open. In other words, if the piston has a six inch stroke with thevalve now in use the piston will travel three inches before the suctionvalve is fully opened, while with my valve the valve is wide open whenthe piston starts on its suction stroke. With my valve the valveveryquickly opens to its fullest extent very shortly after the piston hasstarted on its suction stroke. The piston has only to move aboutone-eighth of an inch before the valve is fully open and the valveremains fully open for nearly the full length of the stroke. 4Thisrelieves the cylinder of atmospheric pressure at the end of the stroke.This valve gives a free and unobstructed passage to the gas and theexhaust vapors and the result is more power with the same diameter ofcylinder and the same stroke and a greater economy of fuel.

Having described the invention, what I claim is:

A valve of the character described including oppositely disposed casingsections, each section being recessed upon its inner face to therebyprovide a relatively shallow valve chamber, the sections being providedwith registering inlet and exhaust ports and the inner faces of saidsections having annular grooves surrounding the inlet ports and theexhaust ports, packing rings disposed in said grooves and confrontingeach other, a shaft entering one face of the casing, a valve diskmounted on the shaft and @19eme y 8 11g-ving e relatively elongated portadapted In testimony whereof I'hereunto eix my to successivelyregisterwith the inlet and signaturein the `presenceof tW0vW1ffI1S theexhaust. ports, said valve disk being spaced from the inner .faces ofthe casing v HENRYT RATCLIFFE 5 sections btghaving gas tight engagementWitnesses: with theopposed faces of,l the.pecking L. B. YOUNG,

rings. RUSSELL PAYNE.

